An attorney who represented nine Ohio State football players during interviews with the NCAA
this week offered an upbeat summation for fans fearing that more Buckeyes could be facing
suspensions.

"I would say the proceedings do not cause me any angst at this point," attorney Larry James
said.

Nine players were named in a
Sports Illustrated article this week that attempted to show a pattern of rule-breaking
under former coach Jim Tressel. It stated that the players, like the six teammates suspended for up
to five games next season, had exchanged memorabilia for cash and/or discounted tattoos.

Doing so is a violation of NCAA rules.

"There is no scintilla of evidence related to 90 percent of those kids listed in the
Sports Illustrated article that they did anything wrong," James said. "That's the way it's
going to turn out, I believe. It's just irresponsible reporting."

Tressel, who resigned Monday under mounting pressure, acknowledged in March that he withheld
information about the transactions from his superiors and then kept it to himself during an
investigation of the six players. When the
Sports Illustrated article named the nine other current players, NCAA investigators
returned.

Per NCAA guidelines, James was provided as an attorney for the new players. In gathering
background for their hearings, he said he made them bring in personal awards such as the gold pants
charms earned for wins over Michigan, Big Ten championship rings and such. He then photographed
each item.

"For all nine, if there are 50 pieces at issue, we have 48 of them," James said. "There might be
a misplaced necklace or something, but they're pretty much all there."

When reminded that players could have traded other things, such as autographed jerseys, James
said he was confident that the nine had done no such thing.

The NCAA, of course, will make the final call.

One of the players named was linebacker Storm Klein. His father defended him in the
Newark Advocate and indicated that he might sue
Sports Illustrated.

"I can't speak for anybody else," Jason Klein said. "I just know what my son has done and know
my son. His name has been smeared, but I'm very confident he'll come out of it without (any
penalty) because he's done nothing."